Exploring the Infrastructures for Institutionalizing Knowledge Brokerage in Innovation Ecosystems

Mehrabi, Nazila; Hassanzadeh, Mohammad; Eskandari, Faezeh; Sharif, Atefeh

doi:10.22034/kps.2026.593033.1290

Exploring the Infrastructures for Institutionalizing Knowledge Brokerage in Innovation Ecosystems

Document Type : Original Research Manuscripts

Authors

Nazila Mehrabi ¹

Mohammad Hassanzadeh ²

Faezeh Eskandari ³

Atefeh Sharif ³

¹ A PhD candidate at the Faculty of Management and Economics, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.

² Professor, Tarbiat Modares University

³ Assistant Professor, Tarbiat Modares University

10.22034/kps.2026.593033.1290

Abstract

This study aimed to identify and conceptualize the essential infrastructures required to support effective knowledge brokerage in innovation ecosystems and enhance knowledge flows and innovation processes. The study is fundamental–applied in purpose and adopts an exploratory qualitative design based on an interpretivist approach. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 15 experts from the innovation ecosystem, including managers and specialists from science and technology parks and knowledge-based companies, selected through purposive sampling. The collected data were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis, leading to the identification of initial codes, sub-themes, and overarching themes and the development of a conceptual framework for knowledge-brokerage infrastructures. Subsequently, a Delphi process was conducted to assess and confirm the relevance, clarity, and adequacy of the identified components and items. The findings revealed ten interrelated infrastructures required to support knowledge brokerage: institutional, technological, human, financial–economic, network, processual and operational, data and knowledge governance, organizational, physical, and cultural–discursive infrastructures. The results indicate that the effectiveness of knowledge brokerage depends not solely on individual brokers or isolated infrastructures, but on the coordinated interaction and complementarity among these infrastructures. Their integrated development can enhance knowledge flows, strengthen collaboration among ecosystem actors, facilitate knowledge commercialization, support evidence-informed decision-making, and contribute to innovation ecosystem performance. This study conceptualizes knowledge brokerage as an ecosystem-level capability rather than merely an intermediary function and highlights the importance of aligning complementary infrastructures to bridge the gap between knowledge creation and application.

Keywords

Knowledge Brokering

Knowledge Brokering Infrastructure

Innovation Ecosystem

Knowledge Flow

Innovation

Subjects

Knowledge management

Adner, R. (2017). Ecosystem as structure: An actionable construct for strategy. Journal of Management, 43(1), 39–58.

Ardalan, O., Mohammadi Fateh, A., & Alvani, S. M. (2017). Developing a knowledge management model: Identifying infrastructures, tools, and knowledge domains. Journal of Management Development and Transformation, 9(30), 13–30. https://www.magiran.com/p1774586

Asadian, A., Matlabi, D., Babolhavaeji, F., & Hariri, N. (2024). Analyzing the components and indicators of e-business for knowledge brokers with an emphasis on enhancing productivity. Knowledge Retrieval and Semantic Systems Quarterly, 11(38), 85–115. https://doi.org/10.22054/jks.2023.75797.1607

Asadi Homayoun, H., Fattahi, M., & Taghvaei, M. (2024). Explaining a commercialization model for knowledge-based ideas to enhance technological capabilities in companies located in science and technology parks. Technology Growth Quarterly, 20(79), 1–10.

Bandola-Gill, J. (2023). Knowledge brokering repertoires: Academic practices at science-policy interfaces as an epistemological bricolage. Minerva, 61(1), 71–92.

Caduff, A., Lockton, M., Daly, A. J., & Rehm, M. (2023). Beyond sharing knowledge: Knowledge brokers’ strategies to build capacity in education systems. Journal of Professional Capital and Community, 8(2), 109–124. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPCC-10-2022-0058

Caduff, A., Bornhaupt, L. R., Lockton, M., Rehm, M., & Daly, A. J. (2024). Shifting the focus: Examining knowledge brokers' relational ecosystems. Frontiers in Education, 9, Article 1441832. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2024.1441832

Glegg, S. M., & Hoens, A. (2016). Role domains of knowledge brokering: A model for the health care setting. Journal of Neurologic Physical Therapy, 40(2), 115–123.

Guerrero, M., Urbano, D., Fayolle, A., Klofsten, M., & Mian, S. (2016). Entrepreneurial universities: Emerging models in the new social and economic landscape. Small Business Economics, 47, 551–563.

Hwang, V. W., & Horowitt, G. (2012). The Rainforest: The Secret to Building the Next Silicon Valley. Regenwald.

Hargadon, A. and Sutton, R.I. (1997)‘Technology brokering and innovation in a product development firm’, Administrative Science Quarterly. 42: 716–749.Iran Zadeh, S., & Karimi, Y. (2016). Developing a model for examining the role of dynamic knowledge management infrastructures in enhancing the productivity of knowledge-based companies. Public Management Research, 9(34), 91–114. https://doi.org/10.22111/jmr.2017.3104

Jalilian, N., Zanjirchi, S. M., Naghibizadeh Mabidi, M., & Mohseni, M. A. (2021). Designing a university empowerment pathway for playing a role in innovation ecosystems using a mixed approach of content analysis and fuzzy cognitive mapping. Entrepreneurship Development, 14(2), 201–220.

Juhola, S., Huotari, E., Kolehmainen, L., Silfverberg, O., & Korhonen-Kurki, K. (2024). Knowledge brokering at the environmental science-policy interface: Examining structure and activity. Environmental Science & Policy, 153, Article 103672. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2024.103672

Krystallis, I., & Jasim, S. (2023). Charting the path towards a long-term knowledge brokerage function: An ecosystems view. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 10, Article 760. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-02294-6

Khan Ahmadi, M., Moazzaz, H., Hashemi, M., Mohammadi, M., Yazdani, M., & Zarei Matin, M. (2020). A meta-synthesis of the factors influencing the formation and development of a university-based innovation ecosystem. Innovation Management in Defense Organizations, 3(3), 97–130.

Li, Y., Shen, J., & Cetindamar, D. (2023). Think tank innovation-driven knowledge service ecosystems: A conceptual framework and case study application. Sustainability, 15(10), Article 8355. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15108355

MacKillop, E., Connell, A., Downe, J., & Durrant, H. (2023). Making sense of knowledge-brokering organisations: Boundary organisations or policy entrepreneurs? Science and Public Policy, 50(6), 950–960. https://doi.org/10.1093/scipol/scad029

Malin, J. R., & Shewchuk, S. (2024). Equity-centered knowledge brokering: Taking stock of challenges, strategies, and possibilities. Frontiers in Education, 9, Article 1436150. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2024.1436150

Masouri Moayed, F., Kordheydari, R., & Ghasemian Sahebi, A. (2020). The role of knowledge brokers in the development of the technical knowledge marketing model of knowledge-based companies. Management research in Iran, 24(2), 35-60.

Meagher, L., Lyall, C., & Nutley, S. (2008). Flows of knowledge, expertise and influence: a method for assessing policy and practice impacts from social science research. Research Evaluation, 17(3), 163-173.‏ https://doi.org/10.3152/095820208X331720

Neal, J. W., Neal, Z. P., & Brutzman, B. (2022). Defining brokers, intermediaries, and boundary spanners: A systematic review. Evidence & Policy, 18(1), 7–24. https://doi.org/10.1332/174426420X16083745764324

Ramazanpour, N, Fallah Haghighi,N, & Sharifi, Z. (2022). Factors influencing the success of knowledge-based companies (Case study: Incubators of the Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology and the Science and Technology Park of Gilan Province). Innovation Management, 11(3), 91–117

Samadian, M., & Ahangaran, J. (2016). Investigating knowledge management infrastructures in knowledge production structures of NAJA. Journal of Human Resource Development and Support Management, 11(41), 35–54.

Sverrisson, Á. (2001). Translation networks, knowledge brokers and novelty construction: Pragmatic environmentalism in Sweden. Acta sociologica, 44(4), 313-327.‏ DOI:10.1080/00016990152696402

Thomas, L. D. W., & Autio, E. (2020). Innovation ecosystems in management: An organizing typology. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Business and Management. Oxford University Press.

Tavassoli, M., Azimi Azad, A., & Khosravi, A. (2023). The impact of knowledge management infrastructures on competitive advantage with the mediating role of knowledge management processes and intellectual capital in Ayandeh Bank. Management and Accounting Studies, 44(9), 14–28.

Zarifian, S., Mostafavi, S., Yadavari, H., & Shabanali Fami, H. (2023). Analyzing the functions of the agricultural innovation system in the development of a knowledge-based agricultural sector. Village and Development, 26(3), 27–52. https://doi.org/10.30490/rvt.2023.361231.1514